On the fishies

I bought two figure-eight puffers a few weeks ago, and they were doing great--eating voraciously, swimming around happily, etc. But almost three weeks to the day after I got them, one of them was looking rather lethargic, and didn't really eat. I separated him into a little breeding box thing that I have, trying to help him since the current in the aquarium was throwing him around a bit. I also put some Melafix in the tank, hoped for the best, and came down the next morning. He was still alive, but died that afternoon. Same with the other puffer, although that little guy was a fighter. I transferred him into a makeshift hospital tank (a bucket with a heater) and put some anti-parasitic meds in, and he seemed to be swimming around a bit, but he died a few hours later. :( I just didn't catch it in time. I was pretty upset when he died, because he really didn't want to seem to give up. RIP little puffers.




This one was the laid-back, shy one. He had a particular hiding spot that he loved. The other one (the one looking straight at the camera) was aggressive, and would come right up to your fingers and nip, thinking it was food. He would also nip at the bristles of the toothbrush I use to clean their tank.

Sigh... so, I gave away my two cichlids, since puffers really aren't supposed to be kept with cichlids, and I'll be getting one or two more puffers again soon. When I do it this time, though, I'll be giving them the anti-parasitic as soon as I get them home--apparently parasites are pretty common with these puffers.

The other day at the aquarium, I helped feed the bowmouths! Here's a pic of one:



They're about 5-6 feet long, and they're trained to feed in a really cool way. The tank they're in is a huge, 760,000 gallon exhibit, so it's not like you can just kind of aim for them. They have a pole about 15 feet long, and this pole is dropped as far down into the tank as possible from this "dock" hanging over the tank. The pole doesn't reach the bottom, but the bowmouths are able to find the pole, and they follow (with their noses) the pole all the way up to the surface of the water, where they're presented with fish or crabs on a different pole. Sounds easier than it is. They don't just "follow" the pole--they actually PUSH on it while they're on their way up, and I had to push back with the pole every single time to prevent them from scratching their snouts on the dock. I had to basically use all my weight on the pole to keep them from pushing it out of my reach. These guys are voracious!